For
most of the time that the modern music industry existed you’ve paid for the
equipment they’ve got and for the experienced engineers. But nowadays you can
build and setup your own small studio for 1k and achieve an amazing quality.
And it doesn’t even take the thousand bucks if you already got a decent
computer (no matter if win or mac) and let’s say a mic and an interface. Freeware
sounds excellent nowadays and so you just need to learn how to use it. If you
already got money to spend, no matter if you’re a solo artist or a band it
might be better to buy some recording equipment instead of just ‘renting’ the
stuff. You don’t need a 128 track mixing console to get good results. Owning
the stuff yourself will pay off when you want to record another song/EP/album.
Recording
and mixing music isn’t that hard to learn (but to master – which is another
story). Basically it boils down to this:
-
Adjust
your ears to the overall sound instead of just your instrument
-
Understand
what which piece of equipment does (EQ, Comp, Gate, Verbs...)
-
Know
your hardware (adjust ears to monitors, know your plugins)
-
Practice
repeatedly
Throw
in some diligence while editing and you’ll be able to produce a nicely balanced
mix of your songs. The ‘old masters’ weren’t born mixing engineers – they
learned a lot ‘on the fly’. New technologies popping up all the time back then,
tons of analog hardware with different characteristics (even if it’s supposed
to sound the same) and so on. If you read The Mixing Engineer’s Handbook (by
Bobby Owskinski; no ad here, just a reference) you will notice that the most
valuable part of this book is indeed the one containing the interviews. You’ll
notice that almost all of the engineers are very vague about rules and fixed
settings. They just know what they want and how to achieve it. Years of
practice may come in handy if you want to get a certain result. And that’s what
you’re paying for. Their experience and understanding of (your) music. So if
you know a studio or engineer that repeatedly was involved in the making of
records whose sounds you love and don’t have the time or interest to learn – go
for it. If you have a very precise idea of the result yourself – learn how to
achieve it.
I
am not bashing studios here. If no one in your band (or you as a solo artist) is
interested in recording and mixing then using their services is fine. If you
got an album prepared and never recorded or mixed before you shouldn’t consider
ruining your creative work by practicing on it. But if you are a/the
songwriter/composer and if you can hear the final song ‘in your ear’ while writing
it then you might be better off learning to record and mix yourself – at least
in the long run.
What
do you need to begin is a PC or Mac (tablets can do the trick but for handling
more than say 6-8 tracks I wouldn’t bother), some sort of interface and a DAW
(recording software). There are a lot of ‘recording beginner buyer’s guides’
and as they change constantly due to new hardware I suggest that you just
search for those or head over to sites like gearslutz.com
As
soon as your system is up and running and you grabbed all the free plugins (e.g.
vst4free.com) you need/want you should begin recording and mixing. Not the full
tracks but riffs and parts. Try a little automation. Get used to your monitors.
You don’t need a pair that costs 2000 bucks and is the most neutral one can
buy. It’s more important that your ears know what they’re hearing. So listening
to your favorite tracks (sound wise!) isn’t a bad idea. If your first mixdowns
sound like you want them, choose the song with the simplest structure and
fewest instruments involved to practice. There are many small traps ahead. I
will let you know for which ones I fell in a future blog.
Don’t
be afraid to experiment. It is right if it sounds right. Of course there are
many ‘ideals’ you can aim for (‘hear everything clearly’, ‘punchy and tight
sound’ or ‘warm and vintage’ etc.) and there are some basic qualities which
separate the ‘decent quality’ mix from the
‘well-I-placed-a-mic-and-pressed-record’-mix. But the ‘sound’ of a song (or a
whole album) is part of what the listener experiences so it might as well add
some character (your character) instead of being a generic production. Just to
clarify that: a studio will (should) add character too. But it might not be
what you originally intended. That’s another reason why I chose to do everything
myself. It might not be the best possible quality in the ears of some but it’s
closer to what I want than any mixing engineer could ever achieve. The only
thing I would give away is the mastering. A second pair of ears for the final
polish cannot be that bad.
So
long
DrScythe
PS:
I mostly trained on soundsamples I made. Just like this one here
Or
this one (for a competition):
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